


bad clock

by saysthemagpie



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Crack, Harry is a disgruntled customer, Humor, M/M, Niall is a call center worker, Niall saves the day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-21
Updated: 2016-08-21
Packaged: 2018-08-10 02:29:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7826698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saysthemagpie/pseuds/saysthemagpie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by this Amazon review: <i>BAD CLOCK - Review by Truth Sayer. This clock would not keep time and I had to return it! There was more but I am not allowed to say it!</i></p><p>Niall gets the call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bad clock

**Author's Note:**

> these are tumblr prompt fills that i'm migrating over to AO3 for safekeeping.

“It what?”

“It bit me,” the caller says again. “Also it doesn’t keep time properly. I’m telling you, there’s something weird about this clock.”

Niall sighs and puts his hand over his face. Just twenty more minutes till his shift’s over, and then he can leave this godforsaken call center and go for a pint with Zayn and Louis. Maybe several pints. It’s been that kind of day.

“I’m sorry to hear you’re having problems with your alarm clock, um - ” He checks the call log notes, “ - Mr. Styles.”

“Oh, just Harry, please.”

“Er, right,” Niall says. “Well, as I said, very sorry about the clock problems. If you’ll just give me your address, we’ll be sure to send you a replacement clock, free of charge.”

“Thank you,” Harry says politely, “only it’s just, ah - I’m not sure how to put this, but I don’t think it’s going to let me replace it.” 

“Let you?”

“I feel like it’s maybe an evil clock.” Harry’s lowered his voice now, so he’s almost whispering into the receiver. “I know that sounds mental, but - I really think it might be evil.”

It does sound mental. It sounds like the kind of mental Niall doesn’t get paid nearly enough to deal with.

“Yes, well, sir - ”

“Just Harry.”

“Well, Harry,” Niall grits out. “Let’s just start with the replacement clock, shall we, and then we’ll take it from there. It looks like we could have it delivered to you by - hmm, Friday afternoon. Does that sound acceptable?”

“I guess it’s worth a try,” Harry says doubtfully.

“That’s the spirit,” says Niall, and ticks the little box on Harry’s call form that says _Resolved_.

*

The second call comes at ten to five on Friday afternoon.

“Thank you for calling Syco Clocks Incorporated,” Niall says. “My name is Niall and I’ll be helping you resolve any customer service concerns. May I please ask who I’m speaking to today?”

There’s a loud crash on the other end of the line, followed by what sounds like hysterical screaming in the distance.

“Niall!” The caller sounds breathless. “Niall, is that you? It’s Harry!”

“Harry? Are you all right?”

“Oh, thank god, I was afraid I’d be too late to get through. Something terrible has happened, Niall.”

“Slow down,” Niall says. “Did the replacement clock arrive?”

Harry makes a noise somewhere halfway between a laugh and a sob. “Oh, it arrived,” he says. “It certainly arrived.”

“And you were able to install it without any significant problems?”

“Define problems,” Harry says, sounding slightly hysterical. “It nearly took my hand off, is that a problem? I’m bleeding all over the place and I’ve ruined my favorite shirt from the YSL spring collection, but I think the bigger problem is that the second clock is now in league with the first clock, and they’ve trapped me and my platonic life partner Kendall in a closet with no hope of escape, and - ”

Suddenly there’s more screaming, this time much closer to the receiver. He can hear a girl’s voice shrieking, “Harry, it’s got my arm! Help me, Harry, don’t let it take me!” and Harry cursing and shouting incoherently, and then a large crash. The line goes dead.

Niall stares at the receiver, stunned. After a moment, he ticks the box next to _Pending resolution_. Then he goes looking for Assistant Regional Manager Payne.

*

“ - so it’s probably just a prank call or something, but I thought I’d give you a heads up in case the bloke calls again.” He hesitates. “Um, everything all right, sir?”

“It’s happening,” says Assistant Regional Manager Payne, Liam to his friends. All the blood seems to have drained out of his face. “Oh, god, they said it might, and now - it’s here, oh god, it’s really happening.“

“What’s happening, sir?”

“They’ll have to leave the house,” Liam says, flinging papers willy-nilly into his briefcase, a hunted look in his eyes. “If it’ll let them leave. It may already be too late. Oh, those poor souls. Those poor, innocent souls.”

Louis peeks his head round the door. “Got a call for Nialler on line one.”

“Er,” Niall says, glancing helplessly at Liam, who seems to be trying to wrestle his desktop computer into a tote bag. “Sir, should I - ”

“The horror, the horror!” Liam says in a long, anguished shriek, which Niall takes as his cue to GTFO.

*  
He races back to his call station and picks up the phone.

“Hi, thank you for calling - ”

“It’s me,” Harry says. He sounds weirdly calm. “Niall, I - it got Kendall. It got her.”

“Got her?”

“I don’t know how else to explain,” Harry says. “One minute she was here in the wardrobe with me, and the next - ”

He trails off. Niall, who is starting to feel a little hysterical himself, asks, “She’s dead?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Harry says, in that same stunned, disturbingly steady voice. “She’s - she’s gone to be with the clocks, Niall. She - I wouldn’t call her Kendall, anymore.”

“I don’t understand, Mr. Styles,” Niall says, looking through his binder of possible call conversations. They’ve gone way off script with this one. “What the fuck is even happening over there?”

“Harry,” Harry says, “please, would you call me Harry, Niall?”

“Okay, Harry,” Niall says. “Can you please just try to explain to me what’s going on? Is this about the, uh, the biting?”

Harry gives a hollow laugh. “The biting,” he says. “Oh, god, I wish this were about the biting. I tried to tell you, Niall. I knew something about that clock wasn’t right.”

“I’m sorry, I should’ve listened to you,” Niall says. “Can we - how can Syco Clocks Incorporated be of service to you today? Surely there’s something we can do.”

“I don’t think I have much time left. Except I’ve been saying that for about fifteen hours now, ‘cos I think they’re manipulating the time-space continuum somehow. I don’t know, Niall, I’m not a scientist! I don’t know what they want from us. I would have given it to them, anything they asked. I never wanted to die like this.”

“You’re not going to die,” Niall says firmly. He pulls up the call log and checks the address Harry had given the delivery service earlier in the week. “You’re in Chesire, is that right?”

“Yes,” Harry says faintly. “But it’s too late, Niall. They’re too powerful. Every second ticking past just makes them stronger. You’ll never make it in time.”

Niall’s a fast driver. Reckless, Zayn once called him, though Zayn drives like an eighty-year-old woman. He’ll make it.

“You can’t go like that.” Assistant Regional Manager Payne is standing in the doorway of his office, tie askew, a wild gleam in his eyes.

“Listen, sir, I’ll make up the hours,” Niall says. “But I’ve got to save our customer. You can’t stop me.”

“I’m not going to stop you,” Liam says, his mouth a grim line. He opens one of the duffel bags to reveal a cache of small arms. “I’m going to come with you. Trust me, you’ll need all the help you can get.” 

The rest of the call center employees are standing around gaping at them. Except for Zayn, who’s asleep under his desk as usual, a blanket pulled over his head.

“I’ll come too,” Louis says quickly, getting up. “Anything to get off early, eh?”

“Harry, hang in there, all right?” Niall says into the receiver. “We’re on our way.”

“Niall,” Harry says faintly. “Niall. I’m so scared.”

“Don’t be scared,” Niall says. “We’ll be there in no time.”

They both chuckle weakly at the clock pun. Niall grabs the keys off his desk and, in a moment of bravado, ticks the box next to Harry’s call as _Resolved_. Because he’s going to take care of this – take care of Harry – even if it’s the last thing he ever does.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr [here](http://www.saysthemagpie.tumblr.com)!


End file.
